2 December 2004
President Roh Moo-hyun of South Korea and Prime Minister Tony Blair have held a press conference following talks at 10 Downing Street.
Prime Minister’s opening remarks:
Good afternoon, everyone. I would like to extend a very warm welcome to President Roh of the Republic of Korea, and to say how pleased I am to see him here and to remake his acquaintance after my visit to the Republic of Korea last year. I would like to say what an immensely good and constructive engagement it has been.
Relations between Britain and the Republic of Korea are probably as strong as they have ever been, but there are also great historical ties. When I was in the Republic, 18 months ago, I remember seeing some of the graves of, and memorials to, those who had fallen in the Korean War, which saw several thousand British casualties. It is, perhaps, fitting to recall that, now that Korean troops are serving alongside British troops in Iraq today. After the American and British contingent, the Republic of Korea has the largest number of troops currently in Iraq, and they are doing a magnificent job. Thank you, Mr President, for their help and contribution there.
We have had the opportunity to discuss two sets of issues: the first is the strong economic ties between our two countries. As you will know from the communiqué, we intend to significantly step up the exchange of science and technology between our two countries - fields where both of us have a great interest. The Republic of Korea’s economy is now the 10th largest in the world, and represents a remarkable economic success story over the past few years. Our trade together amounted to just under $7 billion in 2003; it increased to $9 billion in 2004, and I have no doubt at all that it will increase even further in the years to come.
Second, we have looked at international issues; in particular, the Six Party Talks on North Korea, dealing with the nuclear issue there. I thanked the President for his work in those talks, and said how important it is that they succeed and reach a conclusion that makes not only the Korean Peninsula safer, but the whole world. Additionally, we went through the range of international issues that you would expect us to discuss.
Mr President, I would like, once again, to welcome you here, to say how pleased we have been with your visit, to thank you for your support and for the cooperation that exists between our two countries, and to wish you well with the reform programme you have in Korea and also with the difficult but immensely important task of bringing the Six Party Talks to a successful conclusion. Thank you.
President’s Roh Moo-Hyun opening remarks:
This is the first visit by a Korean President to the United Kingdom. Thanks to the welcome of Her Majesty The Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh and Prime Minister Blair. I have enjoyed my visit, so thank you very much.
During our luncheon and our summit meeting, we talked about the North Korean issue, the issue of the Korean Peninsula, Iraq, and various issues around international security and how we can cooperate to resolve them. During this state visit, I believe that our bilateral ties have become even more mature, and we can now engage in even further and more substantial cooperation in mutually beneficial issues. I also believe that we can further broaden our scope of cooperation around international issues. With is in mind, I think that this was indeed a very satisfactory state visit. During my meeting with Prime Minister Blair in particular, I was very pleased to be able to strengthen the friendship that exists between us.
Prime Minister Blair and I have confirmed that the North Korean issue must be resolved peacefully and that the Six Party Talks must be held as soon as possible. We need the support of the international community in this endeavour. Prime Minister Blair expressed his continued support for our policy of peace and prosperity, and he also promised, once again, that he would continue to contribute towards peace on the peninsula.
Our relations have lasted for over 120 years and, in substantial areas such as trade and investment, they have expanded. Prime Minister Blair and I mentioned areas such as bioengineering, IT and creative industries as high technology industries where we have great potential for future cooperation. We will be establishing a science and technology innovation partnership and carrying out joint research and joint ventures in other countries.
Meanwhile, in Iraq, we are participating together in the multinational forces, and we both hope for speedy reconstruction and peace there. We will be cooperating even closer through the sharing of information. Prime Minister Blair and I also discussed climate change, poverty and renewable energy - issues on which we also agreed to cooperate closely.
With regard to the development of bilateral ties, I would like to thank Prime Minister Blair once again for his enthusiasm and, on the basis of our successful summit meeting, I hope that we can develop a closer partnership. Thank you very much.
Questions and Answers:
Question:
Prime Minister; earlier today, the Chancellor spoke about competition from the Asian economies, no doubt including Korea. Are you at all concerned that there seems to be somewhat of a war of words, or a gap, opening up between the Chancellor and the new EU Commissioner over our relationship with the European economies? Are we doing much better than them and, if so, why do you want to tie us more tightly into that economic system?
Prime Minister Blair:
We should be proud of the fact that the British economy is so strong; we have strong growth, strong levels of employment, and the best unemployment, inflation and interest rate levels that we have had for 30 years. It is, of course, important that we carry on trading, not just with Europe - although 60% of our trade is with Europe - but elsewhere in the world. I see absolutely no inconsistency - indeed, the opposite - in being proud of the strength of the British economy and saying that it is important to also drive the case for economic reform in Europe, since it is also in the interests of our economy.
Question:
First, following the summit meeting between Korea and the US, I believe that we are seeing progress. In today’s summit, and in others with leaders of other countries, we have, once again, confirmed that this issue must be resolved peacefully. However, if we do not see much progress around this issue, I believe that we will see a hard line stance gaining position in the US. In this respect, following your talks today with the UK Government, do you have any concrete measures for peaceful resolution of the nuclear issue?
In terms of the Six Party Talks, it has been suggested that there should be direct links between North and South Korea at the top level. If the Six Party Talks continue to stall, has any consideration been given to a summit meeting between North and South Korea?
President Roh:
I met with leaders of many countries, and we confirmed that the North Korean nuclear issue must be resolved peacefully. This is an effort that I am completely committed to, and we definitely need the help of the international community in this endeavour. The US, of course, plays a leading role in the resolution of this issue; however, aside from the US, there are many other countries which are vital in this process, whose opinions are also important. I understand that the US is cooperating closely with its allies, especially the United Kingdom and Prime Minister Blair.
Prime Minister Blair and the people of the UK are very interested in the North Korean issue. Therefore, in order to resolve this issue, I believe that the leaders of the US and the UK will often meet in the future for discussions, during which views will be shared on the North Korean issue. I think that, at this point, the opinions of Prime Minister Blair are very important. We need perspectives from various angles to be conveyed President Bush, and Prime Minister Blair has mentioned that he would be able to help us with this.
As for a North and South Korean summit, we are currently in the middle of the Six Party Talks, within which we are seeing quite tense negotiations. While these negotiations continue, I do not think we will be able to achieve much from a summit meeting between the two Koreas. This has been my position up to now, and it has not changed. While the Six Party Talks continue, I see very little possibility of a summit between the two Koreas; with this in mind, I think a wise person would not place too many hopes on such a possibility.
However, if the Six Party Talks do not reach a satisfactory conclusion, we may need to adopt other measures, but we are depending on them to resolve this issue. Therefore, I do not think it wise to assume that the talks might fail. We should not assume that the talks may not go well and that we would move on to the next stage; that might harm the talks, and this is an assumption that we should not be making.
Question:
The Chancellor has today been setting out his vision for the next decade. You have already said that you do not expect to be Prime Minister then; the Chancellor does. Based on what he has said today, what do you make of his chances of succeeding you?
Prime Minister Blair:
I thought we would be talking about the detail of the pre budget report. I am afraid that I have nothing to add to that section, other than to say that it is very clear that the message from every part of Government is about a strong economy, opportunities for people in terms of skills and childcare, which are all necessary in a changing world. I think that the strength of the economy, as a result of the Chancellor’s sound management, has given us the opportunity, not just to have high levels of employment and low levels of unemployment, but also to make the vital investment in areas like skills and childcare which are essential for the future.
Question:
First, Prime Minister Blair, during your remarks, you mentioned that your summit talks covered science and technology cooperation. President Roh, you expressed, during the high technology industry forum this morning, that Korea is strong in productive and applied technologies, while the UK is strong in base and high technologies, and that there would be synergies between the two countries’ industries. In this regard, Korea and the UK have several significant MOUs. Could I ask you to be a little more detailed, in terms of the areas of cooperation and industries we are talking about? What kind of progress will we be seeing?
Second, in terms of the exchange rate, during the summit meeting in Laos between Korea, China and Japan, you talked about the worrying depreciation in currency, and the need for countries to work on currency cooperation. If the Won continues to appreciate, how serious a problem would that be? What influence would that have on next year’s economic policies? Do you not think that there is a need for the Government to intervene and prevent the Won from appreciating too much?
President Roh:
With regard to science and technology cooperation, it is very difficult for me to answer that question fully. During my visit, my staff give me a summary of what went on. They gave me a whole stack of papers, about five of which were on MOUs in the science and technology area; KAIST (Korea Advanced Institute of Science & Technology) and Cambridge University have an MOU, there is a joint forum between the UK and Korea, and an MOU for mutual cooperation around technology assessment. I really cannot memorise all of the MOUs that have been signed while I have been in the UK, but I believe that our Minister of Commerce, Industry & Energy will be able to answer your question later. Besides these MOUs, we are looking at substantial cooperation measures, in terms of how we can cooperate in more tangible and substantial areas. However, I think a description of this would be much too lengthy for this press conference.
We talked about being mutually complementary, as we always do, but cooperation between countries or institutions that have identical technologies have, at times, a tremendously synergistic effect, so we need to look at that as well. For me to give a full answer to the question would be beyond my capacity, but if we look back at our experience, not only in the natural sciences, but also in the social sciences, we see scholars and practitioners talking together and engaging in very active exchanges, leading to very substantial development. That, for one thing, is a very sure fact.
In this sense, cooperation in science and technology between the UK and Korea would be very helpful. In 1999, when Her Majesty The Queen visited Korea, that was an opportunity for us to step up cooperation in science and technology. Since then, we have building on this foundation of cooperation. We have cooperation with other countries, but our cooperation with the UK is very unique; it is not something that can be seen with any other country around the world. I would like to stress that it is very diverse, very frequent, and very close.
In terms of exchange rates, this is certainly a very important issue. When we talk about the value of the Won increasing and how far we are going to allow it to increase or just stand by and watch it go up, nobody can give a very simple answer to that complicated question. In principle, we definitely have to look at the market situation and the competitiveness of the Korean economy. We also have to refer to the situation with the US economy. Everything has to be reflected upon when we make policy decisions regarding exchange rates.
When we talk about how high we can allow it to increase before it represents a crisis for the Korean economy, we have to look at the short term, and then at the mid to long term. If we look at the mid to long term perspective, the rise of the Won and for how long we can allow it to continue is something that we cannot say that we have a clear answer to, but we can probably refer to Japan’s situation and how it endured a very high Yen. In any case, even if we can endure it in the mid to long term, a very volatile exchange rate in the short term would be a very heavy burden for any economy to shoulder, and I believe that the Government, at times, needs to appropriately manage the situation in the short term.
We cannot, of course, go as far as to distort the market itself. If we distort the situation to the extent that market factors are incorrectly reflected, that would be unacceptable, but we need, at times, appropriate measures, in addition to international cooperation in this endeavour. It is a very important issue and one which needs cooperation between countries; perhaps not immediately, but we need to leave open the possibility of international cooperation around exchange rates. World leaders recognise that it is an important issue and, when necessary, we may need to discuss this.
If you are talking about immediate cooperation around exchange rates, and whether we need it, we probably need to have talks between those who are directly responsible for economic policies, such as the central banks, and others who understand the situation in more detail. This was an explanation of the basic principles; our statements were about the basic principles and the fact that we are interested in the situation and looking out for it. That was the statement that we made while meeting with China and Japan during the ASEAN summit meeting.
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